In a past article, I noted that it was amazing to me that Chrysler was using great names from the past to market their products. The 8-speed automatic gearbox that backs their cars isn’t simply a ZF 8HP45. It’s a TorqueFlite. It’s not simply a Challenger R/T+. It’s a Challenger Scat Pack, and the world is a brighter and happier place for that. That got me into thinking, what other names from the past would be cool to see today?

It’s really a shame that those futuristic sounding names just went off the wayside as time moved forwards. That’s not to say that those Jetson-esque sounding names completely disappeared from the automotive world. Mercedes-Benz has dispensed with the “ABC” acronym for their latest generation of active suspension control and have given it the considerably more grandiose name “Magic Body Control”. Call me an old romantic, but I can see an old American car that had been fitted with the best suspension technology that the 1950’s could’ve given us fitted with “Magic Body Control”. Or even better, “Space Body Control”; suspension so advanced you’ll feel as though you’re traveling through the infinity of space.

Personally a name I’d really love to see again would be Turbo Hydra-matic. Like TorqueFlite, it takes a rather thankless component, one you tend to ignore until it starts slipping or it misses a gearshift, and somehow adds that much flair and passion in it. Of course, GM still uses Hydra-matic as their trademark automatic transmission name, but you wouldn’t know it from build-your-own configurators, which only refer to it as a “6-Speed automatic transmission.”. I mean, wouldn’t you like to say “Yeah, I bought this new Impala…with Turbo Hydra-matic!”? I would. You could even call the conventional automatics “Turbo Hydra-matics” and the CVT they’re now fitting to Sparks and such “Powerglide”. And before my more traditionalist readers organize themselves to throttle me, consider this: would a world with a new Powerglide be a worse one? You could even fit badges like these:

But what about you, what names would you like to see plucked from the great ones of history and brought back from the dead?

For those unfamiliar, the corolla is the crown-like area surrounding the center of a flower. Early Toyota Corolla badges actually had a little floral-crown as part of the emblem, which was a nod to both the English meaning of the word and Toyota’s bigger, more expensive Corona (which also means “crown”) and Crown.

Camry is a corruption of “Kamuri,” which is the Japanese word for crown. That one would be easier to understand for a JDM car than one primarily intended for export, though.

“Accord” does smack of random word choice and “Fit” is painfully cutesy, but “Civic” always seemed to me a reasonable choice for something that was originally intended as a city car. (Of course, Honda later also had the Honda City for a while in the ’80s.) It beats “Life,” which was the smaller-than-Civic model in the mid-70s.

I’m really not sure why they didn’t use the “Jazz” name in the U.S. Maybe their focus groups just liked “Fit” better for whatever reason.

Teddy

Posted February 16, 2015 at 7:56 PM

In the State of Utah their National Basketball Association team is called the Utah Jazz and that is one reason why perhaps it is not called the Honda Jazz in the U.S.of A.

I theorize that the reason it is called the Jazz overseas is because Jazz as a genre of music is associated with the U.S.of A so Honda wanted a name that would conjure up images of the New World like what Hyundai did with their Santa Fe.

Perhaps Honda calls it the Fit in the U.S.of A is because pop culture is obsessed with body image so having a small car being called a word (Fit) that is associated with healthiness and smallness is subliminal messaging.

nikita

Posted February 17, 2015 at 6:46 AM

A similar problem happened for VW of America when it imported the Type 181 Safari from VW de Mexico in the ’70’s. GM’s Pontiac division had already trademarked Safari for its station wagons. “Thing” was the name that ended up here.

I’d like to see the “Invicta” name back for Buicks, Galaxie for Fords, Bel-Air for Chevrolet. I also miss all the nameplates and other call outs that identified certain features a car had – automatic transmission, air-conditioning (stickers on the windows), etc.

Park Avenue and New Yorker. Each was a near-luxury name in eras when New York was its worst (1970s-80s) and disappeared when New York was on the upswing (1990s-2000s). By now, the geezer-mobile association of each name is largely forgotten, so any past negative baggage should be shed.

Avanti. Not the car, just the name. Alfa Romeo Avanti would be a great name for a sports car, although Audi may dislike the similarity to the name of its Avant station wagons.

St. Regis, Plaza, Savoy, probably more that I can’t recall — Chrysler’s frequent use of famous grand hotel names for lower-division cars in the past was as unique as its affection for New York names for its high-end cars (New Yorker, Fifth Avenue, Southampton).

I’m glad someone else likes the Plymouth trio of hotel names (Plaza, Savoy, Belvedere). Unfortunately, I just can’t see anywhere they would fit in either the Dodge or Chrysler line-up. The same applies to Fury.

OTOH, another Chrysler Windsor, Newport, or even Airflow would be okay. Likewise, seems like a Dodge Adventurer would work as an SUV, maybe for the next model Journey.

Ford still use Galaxie in Europe but spelt Galaxy.
Must admit cars seem better with a name like Avenger,gives the car a personality.
Unlike alphanumerics like CRV which is bottling it by the marketers.

Name is actually Wingroad, but computer played up,or thats my excuse, LOL

Falcon would have been so perfect to use on the Focus(which clearly was designed for a focus group), it would have fit right inline with Ford’s bizarre F naming strategy and they still owned the name. Hell Fairlane > Fusion for that matter.

Coupe de Ville. Never going to happen. Acura Legend. Always loved the car and the name. Can Acura build a car worthy of that name now? Chrysler New Yorker, what a confident sounding name. They’re lucky to be here with America’s import. Lincoln Continental, or maybe you like MKZ better? Almost anything would be better than the alphabet soup we’re stuck with now.

Quite a few come to mind:
–Fifth Avenue –Fleetwood –Eldorado
–Electra –Aurora –Riviera
–Thunderbird –Firebird –Imperial
–Cougar –Fury
Certain there are more…those are the ones that immediately come to mind just because the names were memorable, even if the cars they were attached to were sometimes worthy of forgetting.

My names-wish list is the same as NorthShoreRealtr, (above). But also:
Chrysler LeBaron, or Imperial LeBaron and Crown for that matter.
As well, I like Dodge Lancer, Plymouth Sundance (my first new car), Park Avenue, Intrepid, Integra, Pheonix, Pacer, Corsair, (you all know I love Edsels, but I am NOT suggesting that name!). And how about Starfire, Delta, Comet and Marquis?

Fiat Chrysler’s ideas of brand hierarchy need to be thrown through the window and not only does Plymouth need to be brought back, but so does Dodge Trucks.

Dodge should sell just Trucks, Vans, and SUVs, but also the Viper since it has been around since the 1990s and renaming it would be silly.

Chrysler should continue to be upmarket like what Cadillac is to Chevrolet. Chrysler should never have sold a Voyager (in the United States) or any other non luxury vehicle. Also, the Chrysler Town and Country should not be the only Minivan available after 2016, that is so stupid.

Plymouth should sell everything else and be what Chevrolet is to Cadillac.

I am tempted to design my own badges and apply them to a (new) vehicle that I buy. American Value Package, Magnetic Ride, Bed Step, etc.

Exactly. Everyone outside the company still calls Ram trucks Dodges anyway, and Ram should be reserved as a model name for the pickup line only, ProMaster for the big vans and just call the small one Dodge City Van or Dodge Doblo.

If you’re going to have an Impala, shouldn’t there also be a BelAir? And maybe it’s the BelAir and not the Impala that hits the rental fleets. Also, Nomad is a wondrous name, one befitting of an upscale Chevy SUV.

Bel Air or Biscayne would be a good name for the Impala Limited (previous gen model) that GM still builds for police and fleet customers. Limited traditionally implies a top of the line luxury model, not a workhorse.

Yeah, that name never made sense. “Classic” on prior-gen Malibus was clever – a nicer sounding spin on what literally means “old version”. But what’s “Limited” about a W-body Impala? My only guess is that it’s supposed to increase the appeal/resale for the retail buyers who purchase the 2-year-old versions after the rental companies pawn them off to dealerships at 1/3 the original price.

when i read the article i was not thinking so much about model names as i was about colors and options. we need more “hugger orange” and “go pack” and the little smirking bee is pretty cool too.

what do we have now? “convenience package” and “black onyx”. geez lammo and redundant respectively. oh, yes, we also have universal naming, and badging and scripts that follow corporate culture. i am so bored i could fall asleep.

It’s in the C-segment of global car sizes, or what we Americans call “compact”. B-segment is our “subcompact,” and A-segment is micro/mini/city car, or Smart Fortwo-sized. Ford also makes a B-segment MPV called the B-Max (basically a tall Fiesta) and a B-segment CUV called the EcoSport (a Fiesta with a lift).

Bingo! That a big part of the problem. Leave the insider wonkish stuff out of the marketing department; branding 101. I think GM calling the Citation (aka the Crustacean) an “X” car was the first time the US public was exposed to that kind of stuff and it doesnt help.

Particularly since (a) I think the current Mondeo/Fusion is bigger than the old MkIV Zodiac/Executive and (b) one of Ford’s ongoing dilemmas with the D-segment is that the Mondeo lacks a “premium” image.

Ford did briefly revive the Zephyr name for Lincoln, in fact, with the predecessor of the Mondeo/Fusion-based MKZ. So, clearly we’re not the only ones who’ve had this idea.

AFAICT, LeSabre had too much of an old-people’s stigma. Given that the average age of a LeSabre buyer was somewhere around 70, I can see why they wanted to dump the name despite (or perhaps because of) it being emblematic of Buick as a whole.

I own a 1995 LeSabre as my backup car. It’s my favorite. The name to me is iconic, but I can see why they changed it. Going to “LaCrosse” isn’t a far stretch of the imagination, but it just seems too willing to throw in the towel, I guess…

Whether it was to old people or not, GM had a huge hit with the LeSabre. They couldn’t build them fast enough it seemed…

It was once the car company many younger folks aspired to. In the 1960’s the A body Buick Skylark GNX was not your dad’s Buick and 20 years later the Grand National and the Grand National GNX were the cars to lust after.

I do agree with trying to make Buick appeal to younger folks as the older demographic that would be buying them, has shifted to Camry, Avalon and Accords(even before the death of the PA and Lesabre)

It is true that the 2000-2005 Lesabre was a big seller, but having owned one for 2 years(a 2005 with 60,000 miles on it) a few years ago, i found it both cheap feeling and not at all well made compared to the previous generation. Therefore I feel that the 1997-1999 era Lesabre was the last of the good Lesabres. I did not like the 92-96 versions due to the plastic fenders that seem to crack easy.

I have a 1997 Lesabre and had a 2005 Lesabre and the 97 feels so much better and solid then the 2005. The feeling could be found in the simple closing of the doors. The 2005 doors felt cheap

Old Pete

Posted February 15, 2015 at 5:21 PM

But was there too much disparity between the GNX and the rest of the Buick range? I think there needs to be a consistent feel and intent between the halo car and the rest of the products.

And a cheap-feeling Buick? That should be an oxymoron.

matador

Posted February 15, 2015 at 6:51 PM

I own a 1995 LeSabre and the plastic fenders are still fine. But, I thought it was a bad idea, too. I prefer the metal fenders, and the 1997 streamlining really helped in my mind.

I agree on the 2000-2005 LeSabres- the interiors belong in an Impala. That’s where it looks like GM grabbed them, to me. The Oldsmobile Aurora was a much nicer car on the inside.

Buick needs to be a premium brand. Offer high end stuff in a refined package. But, showing young people in ads isn’t enough.

I think that Buick needs to refine itself, offering technology that you won’t get in a Chevrolet. I think they need to be the American Audi, of sorts.

Oldsmobile was working on it with the Aurora. A modern take on that would be a true Buick to me. If there was a wagon version, I’d be on cloud nine!

Lots come to mind, as everyone notes, but one above all, Lincoln Continental, and it needs to bring back all those fabulous 60’s styling cues. Secondly, the Thunderbird. Those wonderful evocative tag lines, “Lincoln Continental, America’s Most Distinguished Motorcar,” and “Thunderbird, Unique in all the World.”

My God, bring them ALL back! Even the crappiest names of the past were better than MK320LX50123SE. I have to imagine SOMEDAY people will tire of this naming hell we currently live in. *NEWSFLASH* reliable, safe and economical doesn’t require dull inoffensive names, or styling for that matter. It’s a small wonder why less and less people enjoy cars in this country, they’re all brainwashed into buying cars they hate inside for the misperception of practical.

When I saw that Dodge brought back Torqueflite and Scat Pack names I almost jumped through the ceiling in joy. If they can do it so can anyone else. Fuck focus groups.

Alpha numeric designations have two advantages: 1. They can never become politically incorrect (Studebaker Dictator?). 2. They can never acquire an ‘alternate’ embarrassing meaning (Chevrolet Nova? Yes, I know the story has been long disabused, but it still sticks). Which guarantees that marketing department will keep them going. In the long run, they’re safer.

Number 2 is not exactly true. Aside from the example Matt gives, the number 4 is considered unlucky in Chinese-speaking countries because the Chinese word is a near-homophone for the word for “death.” Alfa had to rename Hong Kong-bound 164s “168” because 8 is a lucky number for comparable reasons.

However, I would generally echo Syke’s thoughts and add 3) Alphanumerics create fewer (though by no means no) potential trademark headaches. It’s increasingly difficult to find any evocative English word that would actually survive a trademark search, so you end up with either made-up words or obscure ones that might as well be made up as far as most people are concerned. (“Corolla,” for instance, is an English word, but not one that shows up in casual conversation unless you’re a florist or a botanist.)

Well that’s definitely a problem, and unfortunately in the efforts to cover up notorious models by renaming them or copying other successful company’s naming schemes in a shallow and specious way to be competitive with them, a lot of the names many of us we’d like to see come back have long been abandoned and likely lost. For all of us who gripe about Toyota’s blandness(myself included) at least they stuck with their names for several decades.

matador

Posted February 14, 2015 at 10:13 PM

Toyota’s certainly made do, though.

The Camry nameplate has been used since the 80s, if not earlier (I’m not a Toyota guy, so don’t hold me to the dates).

Good point, Syke. Another example is the all-new (at the time) 2005 Buick LaCrosse, which was sold in Canada as the “Allure”. Why? Because “LaCrosse” was discovered to be Quebec slang for masterbation. (Oh my!).

And I seem to be the only senior citizen who isn’t wanting to live in the past and drag some old names back. I know the difference between an MKZ, MKS, MKC, and MKT – even though I’ve never driven a Lincoln newer than the late 1970’s.

Don’t matter to me what they call ’em. I worry about what they cost and how they drive. And if I’m interested in a car, I don’t have much trouble learning its name.

+1 There are plenty of names that I love, but the truth is that 99.9% of what “makes a name” is the car itself. 2002tii, M3, 300SL, DB4, 240Z, S2000, RS6, GTI, F-150, AMX, etc. – were they any less memorable than their counterparts with proper names? Of course not.

There are exceptions. Dodge re-using Challenger works because it’s so close to the original. Impala and Camaro work because they had only been out of production for a short time. But trying to bring back awesome names like Jetstar, Terraplane, Wildcat, Galaxie, etc. seems like the automotive equivalent of Jefferson Starship. We built this city on rock and roll, and in order for it to keep on rockin’ in the free world, it needs to look forward rather than backwards.

My problem with the Lincoln MK* names is, how do you say them? “EmmKayZee” or “Mark Z” (rhymes with “Mark III”)? Seriously, it creates confusion which is not a good way to reinforce brand identity. At least I can say “Continental”.

My Dad cross shopped a Zephyr when they first came out, about year later when he was serious about getting a new car Lincoln all of a sudden renamed it the MKZ, not that that was the only thing to dissuade the purchase but It certainly didn’t help. I’d hardy call change for the sake of change, especially when it comes to something as shallow as a name “looking forward”.

Diman is absolutely correct. Remember the Merkur brand, and it’s sporty car; the XR4Ti? I recall reading car magazine articles at the time, that even the sales people, as well as the consumers, were confused about the pronunciation. Was it “Mare-KOOR” (apparently, that was German for Mercury), or “Merkur”?. Initially, Hyundai had that problem as well, and published print ads to help clear up the pronunciation confusion in 1984. They advertised thattheir name “ryhmed with Sunday”!

There would pretty obviously be a market for this kind of thing if it were priced within reason. Hell, if it had decently low CO2 numbers, there would be a substantial market in Europe, not just here. European buyers are apparently in love with cute utes.

I agree with Cubic Inches but I think that would just confuse consumers, although I’m not sure your average car shopper looks at that number anymore, MPG and speed stats play a much bigger role now a days IMO. There was the Boss 302 Mustang a few years ago, that’s the only recent car I can think of that used C.I. over liters. I was actually pleasantly surprised they didn’t call it a “Boss 5.0”, which would have been really cheesy.

And I definitely agree with the roll down rear windows/hardtop. Not a name but they were called “Hardtops” in marketing, so indirectly it is.

Bringing back some of the old name won’t bring back the cars they were attached to. Although I don’t see why Cadillac is calling the XTS that instead of DTS, unless they are trying to distance themselves from the de Ville era.

I don’t really think much of the current Cadillac names, but back before World War Two, they used series names, with the base Cadillac a series 60 after the mid 30’s. The Fleetwoods generally started at 70 and went up. At least you knew that the bigger the series number, the higher end. I would not suggest going back to that. They are changing to a two letter scheme (CTx for sedans, x is a number) with the first car a CT6. The CTS may become a CT4. One thing I can say for this is that I think it may make more sense than the present hodge podge of letters.

Audi’s system of letters and numbers works OK, but I am not up with all of the letters. I know that an A8 is top of the line, except that maybe there is an S8.

The other reason a lot of the old names will probably never make a comeback, aside from what’s already been mentioned here, is that some of these names sound pretty silly today and marketing people are consistently terrified of looking silly. (And when they do try to be whimsical, it’s typically so heavy-handed and clunky that is borders on the actually painful.)

Years ago, a former coworker remarked that “Powerglide” sounds like a feminine hygiene product. A casual comment — and she might or might not have been joking, I don’t remember — but one person saying something like that in a meeting is enough to kill a name for an entire generation.

The desperate terror of looking ridiculous is perhaps the only thing middle-aged marketing people have in common with the teenagers to whom said marketers try so hard to sell things.

The person at GM responsible for dropping “Roadmaster” and the person at Ford responsible for dropping “Zephyr” should be whipped with boiled spaghetti. Have they no sense of heritage? No sense at all?

That ZF automatic had better prove to be as rugged as an original TorqueFlite or Chrysler should be put in the stocks.

There’s a car that floats around in my mind, a car I draw and redesign constantly, a car that’s not actually a car, but a movement. In the 1960s we lost Studebaker. Their last true effort, the Lark, was a grand idea. Build a “modular” car, one that could lend some or even all of its parts to create a new design by simply rearranging them. I could imagine Studebaker coming back as an independent company once more, using the soon-to-be-released Tesla platform to create a new modular car. A new Lark. By licensing the Telsa chassis and battery pack, by using 3D printing methods to create all the little parts, by putting them together outside a factory environment (and thus earning “kit-car” status and avoiding crash test standards), and by selling them through an online dealership… We might see something very great. Or not, knowing that America’s regulation of everything makes achieving a dream such as that nearly impossible nowadays. Still… A new Lark! Maybe.

Chrysler needs a premium, ultra-soft nappa leather seating option called – what else? – Corinthian leather. It’s a Chrysler trademark that nobody else can use and is fondly remembered. It also has no real meaning so it can be whatever they want it to be. But it sounds elegant (and of course “soft” and “rich”) and it’s associated entirely with one brand. Who else has their own brand of leather?

The comments section here is so brilliant, there is no other name I can add. Other than say that I would put my hat in for Galaxie and Falcon from Ford. Nova on the Cruze and build a sweet wagon body for that super epsilon Impala and make us a Nomad again. Lastly, make a proper SUV for Jeep to carry the Grand Wagoneer name again.